Morocco's Saibari to miss France quarterfinal

Ismael Saibari will miss Morocco’s World Cup quarterfinal against France on Thursday after coach Tarik Sektioui confirmed the attacker was unavailable because of injury, according to ESPN. The absence removes one of Morocco’s most important attacking players before a knockout match against one of the tournament favorites. FIFA’s match center listed France and Morocco as due to meet on July 9 in Boston Stadium. Al Jazeera’s match preview also reported Saibari would not be available for Morocco. ### Which player is Morocco losing before kickoff? Ismael Saibari is the player Morocco will be without against France, ESPN reported on July 9. The report described him as a star forward and said Sektioui confirmed he would miss the quarterfinal because of injury. The 25-year-old’s absence matters because Morocco had reached the last eight with Saibari as one of its main attacking threats. (espn.com) Yahoo’s syndicated match report said Morocco would have to manage without him in the quarterfinal, identifying him as a recent Bayern Munich signing. ### What do the reports say about the injury? ESPN said only that Saibari would miss the match through injury. (espn.com) The report did not, in the excerpt available, give a recovery timetable ahead of kickoff on July 9. A separate local report published by the Patriot Ledger said Saibari suffered a hamstring injury during Morocco’s 3-0 round-of-16 win over Canada on July 4. (sports.yahoo.com) That detail was not visible in the ESPN excerpt, but it matches the broader reporting that he was unavailable for the France match. (espn.com) ### When and where are France and Morocco playing? FIFA’s official match page listed France against Morocco as quarterfinal Match 97 at Boston Stadium on July 9, with kickoff at 20:00 GMT. Al Jazeera’s live coverage said the game was being played at Boston Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, with a place in the semifinals at stake. USA Today’s lineup preview also listed France against Morocco on Thursday, July 9, in the opening quarterfinal of the tournament’s last-eight stage. (patriotledger.com) The Sporting News, via MSN, separately published viewing details for the same match on July 9. ### How big is this setback for Morocco? Morocco entered the match without one of its headline attackers against a France side that Al Jazeera described as a title favorite. (fifa.com) The same preview framed Morocco as the African champion facing one of the strongest squads left in the tournament. ESPN’s report made the immediate consequence straightforward: Morocco would face France in a World Cup quarterfinal without Saibari. (usatoday.com) That leaves Sektioui to reshuffle his attack on the day of the match rather than later in the knockout stage. ### What happens after this quarterfinal? The winner of France against Morocco will move into the World Cup semifinals next week. (aljazeera.com) A quarterfinal schedule published this week listed the semifinal dates as July 14 and July 15, with the tournament final set for July 19. Thursday’s match in Boston was the next immediate step. FIFA’s match center carried the live fixture page for France against Morocco, where the official lineups and result would follow once the quarterfinal kicked off on July 9. (espn.com) (fifa.com) (worldcupwiki.com)